Current Mood:
Happy
Part of keeping my sanity during the week when I only have Murat and Alper to talk to is staying very active. I try to do some kind of sportive activity as often as possible. I feel it is very important to keep your body healthy (this is obvious) but it is also a great way to relax and get rid of frustration. I have four activities that I have been doing pretty regularly:
Gym Membership: Right around the corner is a small gym (very small gym). It’s about 50$ for one month, and cheaper if you buy several months. I decided to try it out. It’s a about a half mile walk so it’s very convenient. I plan later to post some pictures, but that won’t be for a while. Not a single person speaks English there, but I like it.
Wind Surfing: This one you all know about. I have only been going about once a week. I picked up the basics immediately so now I just go when there is a strong wind and I can really test myself. It’s nice to play in the water (reminds me of summers at home), but I question how clean the water is. When there is a south wind, tons of trash blows up on the beach (thankfully it’s almost always a north wind). Also there is the smell of sewage in the air (there is a nearby plant). It’s no mystery why the bay isn’t heavily used.
Rock Climbing: In a desire to meet my goal of becoming a better climber than Izzy, I now try to go indoor climbing every time I go to the city. I don’t think I will be able to surpass him, but it is good to have a goal. The sport is a great workout for your whole body and it is very challenging. Really though, all the indoor climbing, although nice, is just practice for going outdoor on the real thing.
Soccer: This is probably my favorite thing to do in the whole world. Unfortunately we only play once a week on Sundays, and there are a lot of us, so not everyone gets to play every week. I would like to play more often but I haven’t had the opportunities. Typically we play six on six on a small field that is surrounded by a fence with a mesh netting over the top so that the ball doesn’t get lost. It’s expensive to use the field for an hour (they are very strict about this limit), but it’s worth it.
So far this week I have done the following:
- Sunday: Soccer
- Monday: Gym
- Tuesday: Climbing
- Wednesday: Windsurfing, then jogging, then gym (Murat wasn’t around and I didn’t have a car so I was very bored)
- Thursday: I was supposed to go climbing, but I was alone and the guy that works there wasn’t there so no one could belay me.
Hopefully on Saturday and/or Sunday I will do more climbing. Whether or not I go is typically dependent on how much partying I have done the night before. There are also a few other things I am looking into doing.
- Izzy recently got a wake board, something I am hoping to capitalize on as well.
- Sakir introduced me to the Istanbul paintball team, another sport I am willing to try
- My friend Selim recently returned to Turkey after graduating from CMU and he is interested to start learning to kite surf. This is something I really want to do, but I am afraid the logistics of doing it here are too difficult, at least for this year.
- Sakir also introduced me to the nearby diving club which organizes trips almost every weekend in the summer and early fall. I may join them for a trip or two.
- I would also like to play Tennis, but I am not sure where I can fit that one in.
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